Finishing machine



July 23, 1929. E, A, D NN 1,721,862 v FINISHING MACHINE Filed June 8, 1925 Patented July 23, 1929.

' raiser warren STATES mm orrics.

EDVARD A. DUNN, OF HAVER-HILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE IIIACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PA'IERSON, NEW JERSEY, .A CORPORATION, OF

' new JERSEY.

Application filed June 8,

This invention relates. to finishing machines and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,07 8,050, granted November 11, 1913, on application of Elmer Lane, for butting shoe blanks or shoe parts, such as toe-stiffeners, counter-stiffeners and the like. I

In the manufacture of boots and shoes, certain parts, of which toe and counter-stifl'- eners are typical, are cut from, sheet material and the margins of the blanks are skived to a feather edge. It is then customary to buff the beveled surfaces of a skived blank and the adjacent central portion of the blank to provide a smooth and uniform surface with which the beveled edges will merge. This operation is commonly performed by the use of machines of the type above referred to. In the use of such machines, the counterstiffener or other piece of workis presented to a resilient abrasive covered butting roll by a feed roll usually provided with a yieldable facing, and a presser plate extending close to the bite of the feed roll and the butling roll operates to depress the work piece against the yieldable facing of the feed roll. This action tends to depress the central thicker portion of the counteror other work piece more than the thin skived edgesto prevent removing an undesirable amount of material from the thicker central portion and presents the work piece to the buffing roll'in such a manner-that material is removed principally from the portions of the work piece adjacent to the skivedmargins in order that the skived margins-may be blended with the central surface.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved machine of the general type above referred to, by which the bufiing of counter-stiffeners and similar articles may be still further facilitated, to the end that the quality of the bufling may beimproved and at the same time increased pro- (luction may be attained. f

To thisend, in accordance with one feature of the invention, the untensioned resilient supporting surface of the bufiing roll of the illustrated machine is provided with a circumferential depression or groove which is normally bridged by the abrasive material by which the buffing isperformed'. By properly dimensloning the above-mentioned rIIvIs'H'INe MACHINE.

1925. Serial 1%. 35,732.

depression with respect to the particular pieces of work upon-which t-he'machine is to be utilized, adequatetreatment of all the surfaces, including the beveled periphery and the intermediate central portion is insured, withoutunduly thinning the central portion, because the abrasive covering of the roll is depressed into the groove by the thicker central portions of the pieces of-work thereby preventing the application of undue pressure by the buffing roll upon thoseportions even when they are forced out ofthe resilient covering in which they have been embedded and into the space between the end of the presser plate and the'bite of the rolls, thus reducing to a minimum the amount of material removed from the thicker central port-ions. At'the same time the arrangement provides full pressure and action of the abrasive roll upon the skived parts of the blanks with the assurance that the various surfaces upon the faces of the blanks to be treated will merge gradually and uniformly one into the other without any perceptible break therebetween and that the peripheries will be reduced to a featheredge;

It has been common in machines of the type under discussion to utilize a buffing roll the length of which is several times the width of a single piece of work, with the result that it has been usual for the operator to feed successive pieces of work along substantiallyparallel paths and without waiting for the buffing of'a single piece of work tobe, completed to insert a succeeding piece of work between the rolls. Considering the present invention 1n another aspect, such presentation of work pieces is facilitated by;

provision in the illustrated machine ofa plurality of circumferential grooves arranged side by side along the bufling roll, thereby aiding the operator in presenting successive pieces of work in parallel paths and making itpractica'ble to speed up the production ofithe machine. I

- These and other features of the invention are describedin the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig.1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a finishing'machine with parts broken away;-

Fig. 2'is a view of the buifing roll and the feed roll with parts broken away and in described herein. The machine shown inthe' drawings comprises a rapidly rotating buffing roll 14 and a feed roll 18 placed adjacent thereto which is rotated oppositely so that the activejpart of its-periphery moves with-the adjacent periphery of the bufling roll but ata much slower speed. Apresser 36 isprovided for pressing a counter-stiffener or other piece of-workagainst the feed roll 1S-which causes the work to be carried along gradually while it is being acted-upon bythe rapidly rotating buffing roll 14..

Tntheillustrated niachine, of which only the head is shown, the buffing roll letis on a belt-driven shaft 12. The'bufling roll is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, when.

viewed from the right-hand end (Fig. 1), usually at from threethousand to four thousand revolutions per minute. Another beltdriven shaft 16 providesa support for the feed roll. 18 which is coveredwith a resilient facingyillustratedas of rubber, and thisfeed roll is rotatedin a clockwise direction, when viewed from the'right-hand end,-at a much slower speed. The arrangement is suchtha't the plane cluding the axes of thetwo shafts is'in'cline as illustrated in Fig. 3,for the convenience of the -'operator, and a V throat plate 20 extending across the frontof-the machine is slidably mounted upon an inclined surface'22 which is parallel-to the plane of said shafts. Adjusting screws 24and-26and clampingscrews28 are provided in order that theposition of thisthroat plate204naybe carefullydetermined and I fixed. 'The' lower intermediate-portion -30of the throat plate is curved to form a coverfor the'fee'd roll while the upper, transverse portion '32 is spaced from the portionBO to provide an opening for the insertion of pieces of-workand'ha s a lower surface 34 positioned at an abrupt angle to the inclined surface 22. A rigid presser plate 36 resting against the surface 34:'lS adjustably secured in position thereon "by means of screws 38. passing through slots in said presser plate. Theforward edge of the presser plate is beveled and is brought-to a position closely adjacent to thebite of the two rolls and is then'adjusted by means of screws'2 i'and 26 so thatpieces of'workinserted through the opening of the throat plate are brought into contactwith the feed roll 18-with the result that: the pieces of work-are pressed into the surface of the feed roll sufficiently to be car ried forward at the speed ofthe feed roll. A hood 40, shown in Fig.1 in raised position,

, is arranged to cover the upper half of the bufiing roll and, in conjunction with other parts of the machine notshown, to form'a suction conduit for drawing a'waythe dust made durlng the abrading operation. An 1nclined, perforated plate 42 positioned below the rolls .guidesithe pieces of work back into position for easy removal by the operator.

The illustrated bi'ifling roll 14; is a split cylindrical roll of thetype disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 868,021, granted October 15,1907, uponthe applicationofd. R. Scott. The abrasive covering material 54,. after having been wrapped aroun'dthe opened roll 14 with the meeting'edges of the covering material engaging the prongs 15, is-drawn taut as-the rollis closed and the parts of the roll are held'together by end collars L 1- (Fig. 7

2) having cam slots 15 to coac't with the pins 17 upon theroll to draw themtogether and tension the abrasive cover circumferentially. As in the patentedconstruction referred to above, the prongs-15 of thepresent application are likewise'disposed between the ends of the roll 14 and constitute means forgripping the meeting edges of the abrasive sheet 5 1 to clamp it tightly around the roll 14 when the'la-tter is cl0sed,the-prongs='1-5 thusbeing arranged'to tension th'e sheet 54 circumferentially. The buffing roll 14 is'dimensioned so that it is suitable-particularly:for use in buffing leather counters tobe used in the construction of boots and shoes, suchas' that shown at 46 in Fig. 4. The roll lt-hasan untensioned yieldable covering, illustrated as of soft rubber, in which, between-the ends of'the roll 1 1, is formed a plurality of shallow circumferential recesses or grooves 50 of curved'crosssection with the edge portions of the grooves merging gradually into intermediate portions 52between'said grooves whi'eh'are leftat the normal diameter ofthe-roll. Whenan abrasive cover M such as sandpaper-is wrapped around this roll, itis supported upon the in termediate and end portions 52 and bridges the grooves-50.

Such an abrasive cover is sufficiently'resilient so that upon the insertion of a piece. of work such as a counter 16 between the-rolls at a position coinciding with one of the grooves "50 in the bu'fling roll the a pressure of the'central portionof'the piece of work 456 causes the depression'of the portion of the cover 54: which overliesthe groove 50 into the groove, tending to wrap the cover around the curve of the work, thus increasing theaction of the bufiing roll upon the bevelededges of the counterand reducingits action upon the central portion. The portions of the abrasive cover 54' which contact withthe beveled edges of the counter are-much better supported by the rubber surface ofthe-bufiing roll because they overlie portions 52 of said roll adjacent to the edges of a groove 50 and hence come into contact with the surface. of the roll with less deflection than those portions of the cover which overlie the central portion or" the groove. Accordingly, the action of the butting roll upon the edges of the piece of work is, as desired, substantially increased and brings these parts of the work to a feather edge. The above described buiiing roll, by reason or its grooved construction, can accommodate the thicker central portions of a work piece without pressing too heavily upon those portions, even if those portions are not embedded, or are only partially embedded, in the resilient cover of a feed roll. A work piece which has been embedded in the cover of a feed roll by a presser plate may, especially it lacking in stillness, be forced more or less out off the cover. in which it has been embedded after it leaves the presser plate,

since the latter cannot extend all the way up to the bite of the rolls. In such cases, and especially in the treatment of thin flexible material, the above-described grooved buliing roll presents a marked advantage over the ordinary cylindrical roll. By the provision of a plurality of grooves in the bu'l'ling roll the operator is helped to feed successive pieces of work along parallel paths without waiting for the completion of the operation upon a single piece of work and thereby greatly to increase the. production of the machine. The cross section of the grooves in the butting roll approaches closely that of the counters so that the desired support is afforded to the abrasive cover at all points but, by properly dimensioning the grooves 50, the machine may be used for other similar pieces of work, as above mentioned.

It will be noted that the feed roll 18 acts directly through the thickness of the counter 46 for pressing the latter against the roll 14 to deflect the abrasive sheet 54 into the groove 50 so as to tend to curve the sheet around the counter.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent oi the United States is:

1. A finishing roll of substantially cylindrical form provided with a yieldable supporting peripheral surface'having a circumferential groove between the ends of the roll, a sheet of abrasive material wrapped around said roll and bridging said groove, and means disposed between the ends of the roll for gripping the meeting edges of said sheet of material to clamp it tightly around the roll arranged to tension the. sheet circumferentially.

2. In a finishing machine, a cylindrical bufiing roll provided with an untensioned yieldable covering, said covering being provided with a circumferential recess, a sheet of abrasive material wrapped around said roll and normally bridging thev recess of said yieldable covering, and means adapted to act directly through the thickness of apiece {of the work for pressing said piece of the work against said roll. to deflect said sheet of abra-,

sive material into the groove so as to tend to curve said sheet around the work.

3. A bulling roll. of substantially cylidrical times the width'of a single. piece of work to be treated and having a plurality of parallel grooves disposed circumferentially ol the tool. between its ends, and a Feed roll for presenting pieces of work to the treating tool in positions overlying said grooves so that a plurality of pieces of work maybe treated at the same time.

in a finishing machine, a substantially cylindri al abrading tool the length of which isseveral times the vidth of a single piece oi work to be treated, said tool having a yielding surface provided with a plurality of parallel shallow grooves of curved cross-section disposed circuin'lerentially of the tool between its ends, and a cylindrical teed roll positioned closely adjacent to said abrading tool for presenting pieces of work to the treating tool in positions overlying said grooves so that a plurality of pieces of work may be treated at the same time.

6. A butling roll of substantially cylindrical form provided with a resilient supporting surface, said surface having a circumferential groove of curved cross-section with the edge portions merging gradually into the ungrooved adjacent portions of the roll, and means for clamping a sheet of abrasive material around said roll to bridge said circumlerential groove constructed and arranged to grip the meeting edges of the sheet of material to hold it tightly in position without ten- 'sioning the surface of the roll.

7. In a finishing machine, a buffing roll of substantially cylindrical form having a re silient surface, said roll being provided with a circumferential groove between the ends of the roll, a sheet of abrasive material wrapped around said roll and normally bridging the groove therein, and a feed roll having its axis substantially parallel to the axis of the buffing roll arranged with its periphery close- I ing provided with a yielding surface having a circumferential groove between the ends of the roll, a sheetof abrasive material wrapped around the roll and norn'ially bridging the circumferential groove and having its ends inserted between the split portions of the roll, means for holding the portions of the roll together to clamp theabrasive covering in position, and a feed roll for presenting a piece of work to said buffing roll arranged with its surface closely adjacent to said abrasive covering.

9. In a finishing machine, a cylindrical buffing roll having a yieldable supporting surface provided with a plurality of circumfer cntial grooves, a sheet of abrasive material wrapped around said roll bridging said grooves, means for clamping said sheet of material in position upon the roll, and a. feed roll arranged with its peripheral. surface adjacent to the abrasive covering upon said bufiing roll, said feed roll extending longitudinally to cover more than one of the grooves in the builing roll so that a plurality of pieces of work may be treated at the same time.

10. In a finishing machine, a cylindrical bufling roll having a yieldable supporting surface provided with a circumferential groove between the ends of the roll, a sheet of abrasive material wrapped around said cylinranged to press a piece of work into the groove 'of the bufiing roll, and a presser plate having its leading edge disposedclosely adjacent to the bite of the bufling roll and the feed roll and arranged to press a piece of work against the feed roll sutliciently to ensure the feeding of the piece of work to the bufling roll.

11. In a finishing machine, a cylindrical bufling roll having a yieldable surface provided with a plurality of parallel shallow grooves disposed eircumferentially of the roll between its ends, a sheet of abrasive material covering said roll and normally briding said grooves, means for clamping said sheet of material upon the roll, a feed roll arranged r in parallelrelation to the bufling roll for presenting pieces of work to the abrasive covermg in positions overlying said grooves,and

means for holding pieces of work in feeding contact with said feed roll.

In testimony whereof I have signed 'my name to this specification.

- EDWARD A. DUNN.

Cir. 

